Ethel Catherwood(1928 Olympic gold-medal winner for high jump)–
Harper Lee(author)–
Eugene Shoemaker(American astrogeologist)–
Ann-Margret(actress)–
Paul Guilfoyle(actor)–
Jay Leno(talk show host)–
Penelope Cruz(actress)–
Jessica Alba(actress)–
Died
Benito Mussolini(Italian dictator)–
Penelope Fitzgerald(writer)–
Alexander Lebed(general)–
Dabbs Greer(actor)–
Will Robinson(first African American basketball coach at a Division I school)–
Mel Bartholomew(construction engineer and gardener known for his Square Foot Gardening method)–
Events
Maryland became the seventh state of the Union
–
Coal mine explosion occurred in Eccles, West Virginia –
Vaccine for yellow fever announced –
A six-man expedition, led by Thor Heyerdahl, sailed from Peru aboard a balsa-wood raft named Kon-Tiki on a 101 day journey that would take them across the Pacific Ocean to Polynesia –
At age 98, Walter Sitch of Halifax, NS, became a great-great-great-grandfather –
Charles de Gaulle, president of France, resigned –
A Chorus Line closed after 6,137 performances on Broadway in New York City –
The Soyuz-TM 32 launched, carrying the world’s first space tourist, Dennis Tito, to the International Space Station –
Ashes of actor James Doohan, who portrayed engineer Scotty on Star Trek, and of Apollo 7 astronaut Gordon Cooper soared into space aboard a rocket –
Six endangered red wolf pups were born at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, North Carolina –
Weather
Coastal storm caused tremendous late season snow, 35 inches fell in Bayard, West Virginia –
Six feet of snow blocked roads in Buffalo –
Tornadoes swept through central and southeastern Virginia –
A total of 13 inches of snow fell overnight on New York’s Adirondack Mountains and in northern Vermont –
Hailstorms hit parts of Texas and Oklahoma, with a 6.4-inch hailstone falling in Hondo, Texas
–
